Software Alternatives & Startups

PDFShift VS Apify

Compare PDFShift VS Apify and see what are their differences

PDFShift

Convert any HTML documents to high-fidelity PDF using a single POST request

Rating
0 reviews
Pricing
Freemium Free trial $9 / Monthly (500 conversions and up to 5Mb per generated PDF.)
Apify

Apify is a web scraping and automation platform that can turn any website into an API.

Rating
0 reviews
Note: These products don't have any matching categories. If you think this is a mistake, please edit the details of one of the products and suggest appropriate categories.

Which is more popular?

Based on our record, Apify seems to be a lot more popular than PDFShift. While we know about 54 links to Apify, we've tracked only 2 mentions of PDFShift.

social mentions
2 vs 54
PDF Tools popularity
100% vs 0%

Base details

Website, pricing, platforms and company facts side by side.

PDFShift
Apify
Website pdfshift.io apify.com
Pricing
Freemium Free trial $9 / Monthly (500 conversions and up to 5Mb per generated PDF.) Official pricing
Company 2018 Startup from the Czech Republic · 10 - 19 employees
Listed in

About PDFShift and Apify

In their own words, as submitted to SaaSHub.

PDFShift
Apify

A powerful, fast and high-fidelity HTML to PDF conversion API. Code examples and package ready for Node, Python and PHP developers. Advanced features are available, including watermarking and encryption!

Read more about PDFShift

Apify is a JavaScript & Node.js based data extraction tool for websites that crawls lists of URLs and automates workflows on the web. With Apify you can manage and automatically scale a pool of headless Chrome / Puppeteer instances, maintain queues of URLs to crawl, store crawling results...

Read more about Apify

Features and specs

What each product offers, as listed by its team.

PDFShift 6 features
Apify 7 features
  • High-quality PDF conversion
    PDFShift provides high-quality conversion from HTML to PDF, preserving formatting, styles, and layout details accurately.
  • Ease of use
    The API is straightforward and user-friendly, allowing developers to quickly integrate it into their applications without a steep learning curve.
  • Batch conversion
    PDFShift supports batch processing, enabling users to convert multiple HTML documents to PDF simultaneously, which can save significant time.
  • API documentation
    Comprehensive and clear API documentation makes it easier for developers to understand and implement functionalities within their projects.
  • Customization options
    PDFShift offers various customization options such as headers and footers, page size, margins, and more, giving users control over the output.
  • Security and privacy
    PDFShift ensures data security and privacy by providing encrypted connections and automatic deletion of files after processing.
  • Ease of Use
    Apify provides a user-friendly interface that makes it easy for users of all technical levels to create and manage web scraping tasks.
  • Scalability
    Apify is built to handle tasks of various sizes, from small-scale projects to enterprise-level operations, making it a scalable solution.
  • Integration and API Support
    It offers extensive API support, allowing for seamless integration with other tools and systems to enhance automated workflows.
  • Customizability
    Users can customize their scraping bots (actors) with different settings and scripts to fit specific needs and requirements.
  • Cloud-based
    Being a cloud-based platform, Apify allows users to run their scraping tasks without needing local resources, which is convenient and efficient.
  • Comprehensive Documentation
    Apify provides thorough documentation and tutorials, which help users get started quickly and solve issues efficiently.
  • Community and Support
    Apify has an active community and solid customer support to assist users with their needs and enhance their overall experience.

Possible disadvantages

  • Learning Curve
    While the interface is user-friendly, there may still be a learning curve for those new to web scraping and automation.
  • Cost
    Apify can be expensive compared to other web scraping tools, particularly for extensive use cases that require high volumes of data.
  • Dependency on External Factors
    Web scraping often depends on the stability of the target websites. Changes in website structures can break scripts, requiring ongoing maintenance.
  • Performance Limitations
    The performance of cloud-based scraping tasks can be affected by network latency and other external factors beyond user control.
  • Potential Legal Issues
    Web scraping can raise legal concerns, particularly when scraping data from websites that restrict such activities in their terms of service.
  • Resource Intensity
    Complex scraping tasks can be resource-intensive, potentially requiring higher-tier subscriptions and more computing resources, driving up costs.

Analysis

An editorial look at what each product does well and who it suits.

PDFShift
Apify

Overall verdict

  • PDFShift is generally considered a good tool for developers and businesses that need a reliable, fast, and easy-to-integrate solution for HTML to PDF conversion. Its functionality and scalability make it a competitive choice in the market.

Why this product is good

  • PDFShift is an online API service that allows users to convert HTML documents into PDFs with high fidelity. It is praised for its ease of use, speed, and the ability to handle complex HTML and CSS. Users appreciate its support for various PDF features like custom headers, footers, and page numbers. Additionally, it provides scalability for businesses due to its robust API and ability to handle high-volume requests.

Recommended for

    PDFShift is recommended for web developers, software engineers, and companies that require automated HTML to PDF conversion as part of their applications or websites. It is particularly suitable for those looking for an API-based solution to integrate easily into their existing workflows and systems.

Overall verdict

  • Yes, Apify is considered a good choice for web scraping and automation needs due to its comprehensive features, user-friendly interface, and strong community support. It is especially beneficial for those who require efficient, large-scale data extraction and workflow automation.

Why this product is good

  • Apify is an established platform known for its robust web scraping and automation capabilities. It provides a powerful API, pre-built actors for common tasks, and allows you to create custom web scrapers with ease. The platform is scalable, supports a variety of programming languages, and offers features like scheduling, proxies, and data storage solutions. This versatility makes it a valuable tool for businesses and developers needing efficient data retrieval and workflow automation.

Recommended for

  • Developers looking for a versatile web scraping solution.
  • Businesses needing to automate data collection processes.
  • Researchers and analysts requiring extensive data from the web.
  • Marketers seeking competitive analysis through data scraping.
  • Tech enthusiasts interested in exploring web automation tools.

Videos

Walkthroughs and reviews on video.

PDFShift 0 videos + Add
Apify 1 video + Add

No PDFShift videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

Apify product news - 2019/01/30

Category popularity

How often each product is chosen within a category, 0–100% relative to the other.

Score bands 0–20 21–40 41–50 51–60 61–100
PDFShift
Apify
100% 100%
0% 0%
0% 0%
100% 100%
100% 100%
0% 0%
0% 0%
100% 100%

User comments

Share your experience with using PDFShift and Apify. For example, how are they different and which one is better?

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Reviews and articles

External articles and on-site reviews we used to compare the two products.

PDFShift no reviews yet
Apify no reviews yet

We have no reviews of PDFShift yet. Be the first one to post

Social recommendations and mentions

Recommendations tracked on public social media and blogs since March 2021.

PDFShift 2 mentions
Apify 54 mentions
  • Find the bugs your users are complaining about: mining App Store reviews with Python
    An Apify account and API token. The free plan includes monthly credits, which is far more than this tutorial uses. - Source: dev.to / 5 days ago
  • WHOIS is gone, RDAP replaced it, and a 404 does not mean what you think
    That runs an Apify Actor I maintain, WHOIS Domain Lookup, because the Tedious parts are the RDAP bootstrap, the vcard unpacking and the provider Fingerprinting rather than the HTTP call. If you would rather do it... - Source: dev.to / 10 days ago
  • The App Store top charts are a public API, and nobody archives them
    I put that in an Apify Actor, App Store Top Charts Scraper, So I could stop rewriting it. One HTTP call runs it and returns flat rows. - Source: dev.to / 10 days ago

View more

Alternatives to PDFShift and Apify

When comparing PDFShift and Apify, you can also consider the following products.

  • DocRaptor

    As the only API powered by the Prince HTML-to-PDF engine, DocRaptor provides the best support for complex PDFs with powerful support for headers, page breaks, page numbers, flexbox, watermarks, accessible PDFs, and much more

    Compare DocRaptor to PDFShift or Apify:

  • import.io

    Import. io helps its users find the internet data they need, organize and store it, and transform it into a format that provides them with the context they need.

    Compare import.io to PDFShift or Apify:

  • pdflayer

    Free, powerful HTML to PDF API supporting both URL and raw HTML conversion. Unlimited document size, lightning-fast and compatible PHP, Python, Ruby, etc.

    Compare pdflayer to PDFShift or Apify:

  • Octoparse

    Octoparse provides easy web scraping for anyone. Our advanced web crawler, allows users to turn web pages into structured spreadsheets within clicks.

    Compare Octoparse to PDFShift or Apify:

  • PDFCrowd

    Pdfcrowd is a Web/HTML to PDF online service. Convert HTML to PDF online in the browser or in your PHP, Python, Ruby, .NET, Java apps via the REST API.

    Compare PDFCrowd to PDFShift or Apify:

  • ParseHub

    ParseHub is a free web scraping tool. With our advanced web scraper, extracting data is as easy as clicking the data you need.

    Compare ParseHub to PDFShift or Apify: